Faultlines
by heists
Summary: "He had long since realized she didn't need any more masks in her life." :: Robin and Terra share a moment, trying to figure things out. Ficlet - kinda plotless. Only romance if you want it to be. References to the "Apprentice" and "Aftershocks" arcs.


"Do. Not. Move_."_

"_What's the matter, Robin, feeling lonely since I exterminated all of your friends?"_

"_They were your friends, too."_

"_I don't _need_ any friends."_

"_What did we ever do to make us hate you so much?"_

"_You were _born_."_

_Suddenly, the earth below them erupted, sending him flying off of her._

With a gasp, Robin shot up in bed, breathing hard. After a few moments, he bent so his elbows balanced on his legs, hands running through his hair as he forced himself to get a grip.

_Should've seen it, should've known it was Slade, should've, should've _should've.

No matter how many times he told himself there was nothing he could do - that there was no way he could change what had happened - he couldn't let it go.

So involved in his own thoughts, he didn't notice his door had slid open until her voice, hoarse with sleep, pulled him out of the self-destructive trance. "You had the dream again, didn't you?" she asked. His head shot up to see her silhouette standing in the doorway. "I could feel you thrashing around in bed."

He flipped his dim lamp on, not bothering to reach for his mask.

He had long since realized she didn't need any more masks in her life.

She squinted in the new light, but stepped forward all the same. "I'm guessing it'd be pointless to remind you it was never your fault? Again?"

He shook his head, but it wasn't just an answer to her question. "If I had just _seen_ what was happening – "

But she wouldn't hear it, speaking over him to cut him off. "If I hadn't _let_ it happen," she began, finding a place on the bed and crossing her legs, "there wouldn't have been anything for you to see." She met his eyes and held his gaze for some time before continuing. "Why do you insist on taking the blame?"

"Because you don't deserve it," he explained. "You don't deserve what he did to you."

"Robin, it's not like he _raped _me or something." He recoiled away from the possibility. She paused for just a moment, to let him recover, before continuing: "He persuaded me. And I let him. I let myself believe - despite what you and Beast Boy and everyone else said - he had my interests at heart. I'm the _idiot_ for not seeing it."

"Don't say that," he muttered, shaking his head again. "I know how Slade works, what his methods are – I should've known he'd target you, with all of that power."

"You couldn't have possibly known he would target me, Robin," she said. "I was an easy target for reasons you didn't even know about yet…"

"I had an idea," he protested.

"But you it was a hunch, Robin - you don't base everything on one idea." she said. "It's not your thing – you needed know more - more details. You didn't know everything about my… traveling. Slade did. He used that. The same way he used your loyalty to the Titans." He cringed. She normally didn't bring that subject up. "That wasn't your fault, either, by the way."

"How can you say that?" he shot back. "You don't know what I did, what happened – "

"But I do," she murmured. "You don't think he didn't explain? That I didn't hear the pride in every word as he told me just how easily you were manipulated? The worst part is, though, not _once_ did I think he could be doing the same thing to me. He probably got off on my ignorance, later…"

"Not an image I needed to see," he muttered.

There's a ghost of a smirk, but the light doesn't reach her eyes. "Sorry."

There was silence for a long moment, where both lost themselves to their own thoughts.

Finally, he found a way to break it: "So where does that leave us, Terra? If I'm not to blame, and you're not..."

"Why is it," she began after several seconds passed, "that we can face bad guys and crooks and everything else in between, but we can't even answer a simple question?"

"I don't think it was ever simple…" he answered slowly. "Any of it."

"Mm."

The question loomed above them both, as it always had, leering down at the pair in its smugness.

Neither of them could begin to fathom the answer that would rid themselves of it.

* * *

><p>So this has been sitting on my hard drive for the better part of a year, and after stumbling on it I got such a wave of nostalgiaaffection for these two (I've been neglecting the Titans in general lately...) that I decided I'd let you guys see it. After some sprucing up, of course. It probably has a lot of overlap with my other story _Realization_, but that I'd be willing to bet that has something to do with the fact that this started as a drabble for _Words Never Said_, and then grew into... this.


End file.
